Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Council to focus on wastes, sewage By Grace L. Plata
PROPER waste disposal in coastal areas and the city's sewage system will be the focus this year of the City Council committee on environment and natural resources with the city's Task Force Limpyo Baybay.
"Wala na tay nahibaluan sa status sa atong baybay (We have not been updated of the state of our municipal waters) since CENRO was tasked by the mayor to conduct a survey. Hapit na man pud manlimpyo, so we will know by then. It is where we will base policies to be proposed," Environment committee chair Leonardo Avila III said on Monday's Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM Entertainment Plaza.
It was in April 2006 that the status of Davao's coastline was brought to attention of the public after the Office of the City Mayor tasked the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to do a survey on the beaches.
Prior to the CENRO study, five beaches were already identified as unsafe for bathing posing health risks to swimmers in a test conducted in 1992.
The information is contained in the World Bank Environmental Assessment Report on Davao City in relation to a proposed Sewerage and Sanitation Project and Water District Development Project dated March 1997.
The report underlined the alarming state of beach waters in the city because of the absence of a proper sewerage system.
Councilor Peter Laviña, said the Davao City Council has already addressed the city's major environment concerns save for the sewerage system.
Laviña said that the implementation of a comprehensive and sustainable solution is what the members of the 15th Council, most of which are last-termers, hope to accomplish before 2010.
